Josh Hamilton has 125 million reasons to smile (Associated Press).
So I know folks in places like San Francisco, Detroit, St. Louis, Washington and maybe even Toronto might argue but should I just book my hotel right now for 10 days next October for a Freeway World Series in sunny Southern California?
The Dodgers have gone completely off the deep end salary wise this offseason and now comes Thursday afternoon's shocker: Multiple outlets are reporting that the Los Angeles Angels are luring Josh Hamilton from Texas for a five-year, $125 million contract. Hamilton and Albert Pujols in the same lineup? Yikes. They'll have plenty of stories to tell from the 2011 Fall Classic! And don't forget Mike Trout in the same outfield. Crazy.
Trout's reaction on Twitter was one word: "Wow." It got more than 4,700 retweets in less than 55 minutes after posting!
Former Angel Torii Hunter wasn't happy. He signed with Detroit and has tweeted that Angels owner Arte Moreno told him "money was tight." Of course, Hunter is 37 and that might have something to do with it too
The Hamilton deal is another huge loss for the Rangers, who didn't sign Zach Greinke either this winter or make a trade for Justin Upton. Maybe now they go back to the New York Mets for R.A. Dickey. Texas didn't want to go past three years for Hamilton and was pretty much daring him to go out and find a team that would take on the risk of his checkered past. Hamilton did and the Rangers got burned.
And the move thus completely changes the balance of power in the AL West. Think the A's will be favored to repeat in the division next spring? Think not.
---Mike Harrington
Twitter: @BNHarrington
